Tuesday, October 4, 2011

CMS race: Speed-dating, "unity" and a missing candidate

About 150 parents,  teachers and students showed up at the westside Stratford-Richardson YMCA  last night for a  "speed-dating"  forum with 13 of the 14 candidates for Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board.  Each candidate sat in a circle of a dozen or so people,  spent five minutes fielding their questions,  then moved to another circle when the whistle blew.  By the time the night was over,  everyone had spent some time with each candidate.  Participants and candidates said afterward it was a good experience.

The organizing groups  --  Coalition for Strengthening Community Education in Charlotte,  Communities In Schools,  Council for Children’s Rights,  Freedom School Partners,  Grandparents of America,  Latin American Coalition,  Leadership for Educational Equity,  Mecklenburg Ministries,  New Leaders for New Schools,  Teach For America-Charlotte and Time Out Youth  --  asked participants to offer final thoughts.

One urged the candidates to be wary of philanthropists offering money for school reform.  Another asked them to keep a watchful eye on the new preK-8 schools to see if they're working.

"Be truthful and do what you say you're going to do if you get elected,"  said one adult.

Loan Tran,  a junior at Phillip O. Berry Academy of Technology,  had the final word,  directed at all the adults in the room:  "Voting is a privilege.  When you cast a ballot,  you're voting for students like me."

Meanwhile,  the campaign gets ever more intriguing.  There are now two Democratic "tickets" vying for the three seats in the nonpartisan Nov. 8 race.  On Saturday, in a meeting marred by false fliers telling people to stay home, the Mecklenburg party's executive committee endorsed three of the eight Democrats on the ballot,  urging party members to unite behind Aaron Pomis,  a charter school teacher;  Mary McCray,  a recently-retired CMS teacher; and Ericka Ellis-Stewart, an active CMS parent, to avoid spreading votes too thin.

On Monday, three of the Democrats who got left out unveiled their own "unity" ticket. Former County Commissioner Lloyd Scher,  newcomer and CMS parent Lisa Hundley,  and Darrin Rankin,  who has run for Charlotte City Council and recently resigned his seat on the Democratic executive committee,  are touting their budget savvy and party credentials.

Republicans might be enjoying the rift,  but they've got challenges of their own.  After two of their four original candidates dropped out,  the party is currently backing the ultimate odd couple.  Tim Morgan, who already represents District 6,  is running at large on a platform of continuing the work launched by the current board majority.  Newcomer Ken Nelson wants to scrap it and start fresh  --  abandoning the national superintendent search,  cutting ties to the national philanthropists who have provided guidance and grants,  and eliminating the CMS testing program.  (Keith Hurley,  who changed his registration from unaffiliated to Republican last month in hopes of getting party support,  so far hasn't landed an official endorsement.)

Among the campaign managers and supporters who hovered around last night's session,  there was buzz about what cross-party coalitions might emerge before voting begins.  Commenters on this blog have offered their own speculation  --  one suggested Morgan,  Pomis and unaffiliated Elyse Dashew as the likely choice of  "a rough alliance of voting parents and the business community."



And finally,  a campaign mystery:  While 13 people are spending this month dashing from one campaign event to another,  DeShauna McLamb seems to have fallen off the map.  She was the first to formally announce her candidacy in March,  and one of the first to file in July.  But since then,  she hasn't appeared at forums or responded to questionnaires.  She never created a campaign web site,  and the phone number listed with her filing gets a "not a valid number" recording.  I've emailed her,  gone to the address listed on her filing and left a note in her mailbox asking what's up:  No reply.  She hasn't pulled her name off the ballot,  though,  so at least on paper,  she's still in the running. 

59 comments:

Wiley Coyote said...

Good.

Let the Democrats eat their own.

Neither "coalition" should be elected.

Larry said...

It was proven time after time.

We sixteen groups of about ten or fourteen in each group last night.

And in almost all those groups you had one or two who were the loudest voices that took over the discussion.

It seems that people have seen that the entitlement and free stuff train is easy to keep rolling right along if you yell and intimidate others.

No matter how it hurts the future of those it has and has kept so many people down for so long.

I had a couple of people tell me my job was to protect the Public Education System. I had to tell them my job was The Board of Education, and that meant everything was on the table in my mind, and what ever it took to educate our Children. Vouchers, Charters, competition to our system and the like.

So it was strange to go to an area where the schools need the most changes and to see how entrenched they have been indoctrinated into holding on to the deck chairs as the ship goes down.

I was shocked to see how they are not wanting to even have a breath of fresh air but almost everyone wants busing brought back as if that would make all the difference. I asked did it make any difference for the last fifty years and they could not answer.

Wiley Coyote said...

Larry...

...and people wonder why I keep hammering the points I do.

Thanks for validating them with firsthand knowledge.

You might get my third vote afterall...

I still can't quite understand where we're supposed to bus them to. Is it some can't stand a school like Providence is eighty some odd percent White and needs to be "integrated"?

The ethnic makeup of CMS as it currently is doesn't leave many Whites to integrate with.

staus quo oh status quo......

Larry said...

I am waiting to see what Fannies take on last night will be.

She was like Ann going from group to group listening over the shoulders of those participating.

Strange how I sent out the study on our CMS schools over a week ago and have yet to see any report of it in the media.

It should have hit the system like a bomb. feel free to see it at www.WestCharlotte.com

This is an abstract

ABSTRACT
We study the impact of a public school choice lottery in Charlotte-Mecklenburg (CMS) on postsecondary
attainment. We match CMS administrative records to the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC), a
nationwide database of college enrollment. Among applicants with low-quality neighborhood schools,
lottery winners are more likely than lottery losers to graduate from high school, attend a four-year
college, and earn a bachelor’s degree. They are twice as likely to earn a degree from an elite university.
The results suggest that school choice can improve students’ longer-term life chances when they gain
access to schools that are better on observed dimensions of quality.

I just wonder if a Group had presented it how fast it would have been in the media?

Jocelyn said...

The Black Political Caucus of Charlotte is sponsoring a school-board candidate forum, tommorrow October 5th, 2011 at Little Rock Community Development Center, 403 N. Myers Street

Jocelyn said...

The BPC School Board forum starts at 6:00 pm

Ann Doss Helms said...

Larry, I only saw part of one of your conversations, but one woman was trying persistently and politely to get you to elaborate on how and why you think charters would improve outcomes for students. You kept telling her that charters are just better. (In fact, research shows some are outstanding, some are lousy, and most have results similar to traditional public schools.) I admit to being a bit puzzled: If you think charters are the answer, why are you running for a board that does not oversee charters?

Anonymous said...

Ann,

Could you admire the flexibility of charters and vow to bring some "out of the box" thinking to CMS? Seems like we have been doing the same thing for the past 40 years - led by the teacher's unions - and getting worse and worse results.

Anonymous said...

Ann is correct about Charters. You should read some of the outcomes. They are not the end all and in most cases do no better over the long run. Seymour Sarrason predicted this in his pioneering work on school reform. He specifically spent time looking at the charter school movement beginning in the 70's. He has been 100% correct in his predictions. All school board candidates should read his work and educate themselves. They are all pretty much clueless about how to make systemic change. They oversimplify and try to drive change from the top down. Research shows that this fails every time.

Anonymous said...

But, the bottom line is this:

Public schools in general are on a downward trajectory. There has been very little innovation. Promotions are given to move kids along. Some teachers just show up to punch a time clock. So, the teacher's association's...the ones on the front line for 50 years, are going to drive change and improvement? Right.

Anonymous said...

Ann. Look at the Strategically Staffed schools under Gorman. Check and see how many of these principals stay at their schools. Notice that all of the original principal placements are now gone. More importantly, look at the 5 teachers that went with those principals. Look at how many years they lasted. The truth is that Gorman's reform there was a temporary fix. Why does the Board for the most part continue to say how great that measure is.

They are all clueless about reform....including the very people who are in charge. They come and they go folks....and each time they come, they make sweeping changes and then leave. The managers/leadership are as clueless about running schools as much and if not more than the school boards. That said, the business models being touted are just as clueless. So are the retired Generals. They all think they understand but they are all failing. Look around the country.

Anonymous said...

No extra PR people or party planners their from CMesS?

Larry said...

Ann you missed a lot of that conversation

I asked that person and others to go to www.west charlotte.com for full facts and info that I could not provide in one minute.

sorry. You did not stay the full minute

I am at the Cornelius meeting and I hope we see you here.

Larry said...

And competition in our schools would be the best thing for our system

We are on the board of education not the public support school of education.

Maybe if we put everything on the table to educate kids that would be a step in the right direction.

I hope this has helped clear your confusion,

I know I how wondered why your reporting was so slanted.

Anonymous said...

I've taught in NC since the mid seventies and have yet to see a union. However, every PAC from business seemed to get what they need and property on the coast for politicians on both sides. If you're talking about NJ or NY that's one thing but teacher organizations here were degendered long ago. Professional insurance is all it comes down to. Larry, you've beaten the charter school drum so hard that you've become an irrelevant one trick pony. You should be uniforming every elementary and middle school student and offering some real job skills.

Wiley Coyote said...

Anon 7:51...

Public education has been a one trick pony for 40 years and also irrelevant.

Perhaps you should do something different to offer a real education instead of the status quo pandering that is still pervasive today.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Larry said...

Good 7:51 pray tell us what ideas you have.

At least. I have a plan and a full study that proves what I say will work.

But if you and others want to keep the drop out factory. Which is the only growing industry in our County.

And Ann is a no show at this event out the suburbs. maybe she will make the other urban event tomorrow.

therestofthestory said...

Larry, Ann and the CO have no interest in what the suburbs think. We are their money train and they have kept the districts, now locked away again for 10 years, from being a truly representative body of responsible voters.

Anonymous said...

Larry - Could you elaborate on this comment from your website: "My plan to raise all grades almost overnight is foolproof. We pay Asian Parents to let us put at least one of their children in every classroom."

Larry said...

What else would you like to know the results speak for themselves.

If we are going to seek magic kids in classrooms to somehow raise the grades, we need to get the best.

Larry said...

Sorry The Rest of the Story but this is an Urban System so I am sorry if you feel that getting funding of around four thousand for your Children is not enough.

The main thing to keep in mind is that some truly Urban Schools are getting around 11 or 12 thousand per student and some people running have said since it is working for the suburbs that is just fine.

I am not trying to draw anyone out but that statement does smack me as someone willing to sacrifice children for other children.

Where is the tipping point when that formula hurts those children and how is it being monitored? Yes we could say grades but what if they were fully funded, would the grades be higher?

So much remains unanswered because they are suburban students.

http://www.cms.k12.nc.us/News/Documents/Equity%20Report_2010_2.pdf

Here are some High Schools from way back in 2009 and they show the same idea in an easier form: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/01/07/1962837/cms-per-pupil-spending-high-school.html

AnswerMan said...

Seriously - Larry is the worst candidate who is running. All he does is repeat the mantras of others from 10-12 years ago, with no evidence to support his outrageous claims. He makes Lloyd Scher appear cogent, which is hard to do.

Wiley Coyote said...

AnswerMan....

Tell us in your words what the answer is....

Larry said...

If you feel that way then my campaign is working.

I want everyone to know that if they vote for me they are not going to get the same stuff we have had for the last fifty years.

You and the others can either give these kids a chance or you can avoid downtown on Saturday night when they keep on going down there and having a melee. And don't forget these groups or gangs they are joining are spreading all over town. So don't be surprised when you get home and your stuff is gone.

So either you educate them and get them a job or you keep on letting the drop out factory produce some of the finest products we have every seen them produce to date.

I tried to tell people years ago the challenged neighborhoods needed help and was ignored and now I am trying to help the real problem. You had better be tough if you do not have an education.

So thanks for your kindness, that is what this world needs more of people who are willing to try what ever it takes this time, because we sure have tried the money and the other way for fifty some odd years.

Overthrow CMS said...

Larry is kind of poison pill. Run for a board that does not oversee charters so as to make disruption; the more CMS looks bad, the better charters will work. His racist statement about Asians shows he is simply not in touch.

Overall this group of candidates seems to ensure that no matter who is elected Charlotte Mecklenburg will continue to have our central entertainment factor from CMS. To bad it costs us over a Billion a year. We could get a couple of major league teams and an Elvis concert for a lot less.

Larry said...

Yes apparently this overthrow CMS does not understand how a hybrid of charter and public systems can work and do work in this country.

But as far as racist if you want to look at the numbers and tell me who blows the bell curve off the top and get back to us please do so.

Love your ideas and how droll you look at things with out any answers, maybe you can work on that part of it.

Larry said...

Oh and just how much worse can someone make CMS look even it they tried?

therestofthestory said...

Larry, while i am sure you know this, the under the table policy at this time in the public school industry is how to close the achieveemnt gap. Well I will correct myself. That discussion is above the table. WE have seen al lthese many "efforts" to close the achievement gap but under tha table, they all know the only thing they is really working is bringing down the top end and thsu you have the $4k per pupil policy. And it is working. We are feeding the top end kids who can drink from a firehose with dripping kitchen faucet and even making them fight for that. Whiel the inner city kids have a firehose and they can only swallow once a day. So the rest of the time, the effort asnd dollars are going down the drain.

Larry said...

Saran is a great resource when used correctly.


The rationale for charter schools is implicitly the most radical critique ever of our school systems. Yet Professor Sarason reluctantly concludes that most charter schools will fail or fall far short of their goals; only a small number will be considered successful. He argues on both theoretical and empirical grounds that it will be impossible to know why a charter school fails or succeeds. The reasons are several, including • national, state, and local politicians and policy makers who support self-defeating legislation • resistance from vested interests in the educational status quo, and • a total ignorance of what creating a new setting inevitably confronts.

As someone said of his work which I have researched and hope others will do for these comments.

Larry said...

Sarason Sorry on my iPad and the auto correct is too fast

therestofthestory said...

Larry, what was the format of the candidates forum last night and how many attended?

Larry said...

It was attended by most of the candidates and they broke us up into two groups due to the seating arrangement.

The first group was the the A team I like to call them as they were mainly the anointed ones, a current member of the board those who had been approved by the parties etc.

Then they had our group of those who are just running to see if we can get a couple of votes.

The format was question and a minute to answer. It was mainly a hire a television personality event. A lot like we have been doing in this country for too long and getting the same results. For some reason we think people who are great speakers and have charisma make great board members and leaders.

So it was fun as will be others beauty pageants we will be in over the next few weeks.

Larry said...

Ann is at the bpc event tonight

therestofthestory said...

Larry, just goes to show the true colors of Ann and the CO. While many of us already knew it, we need to be sure we talk it up big time so others will know.

Ann Doss Helms said...

I regret that I didn't know about the Cornelius event, though several candidates said it had very small turnout. Do you think the candidates are saying completely different things depending on the audience? I'm willing to check it out if anyone knows of a suburban or otherwise different forum where candidates will talk. So far I've heard of a Saturday cookout in Ballantyne and a couple more north suburban meet-and-greets that don't involve candidate statements.

Larry said...

Actually She did say that she was getting more involved in the race and the candidates, and did not have that much time, especially when I tried to introduce Her to a retired 33 year veteran of CMS who is in the early stages of starting a Quality Charter School in one of the troubled neighborhoods.

She promised to get back to that story later when She had more time.

And we did get a questionnaire today. So I will be getting on that for Her tomorrow morning.

1. Does the strategic plan approved by the current board provide the right general direction for CMS to move forward? If you think a change of direction is needed, including in the search for a superintendent, please explain.
2. What is the most important thing CMS should do to improve achievement and graduation rates?
3. CMS currently provides more money and staff to schools with higher need, as measured by poverty levels. Do you believe CMS should change the way it allocates resources, and if so, how?
4. What do you think CMS needs to do to attract, develop and reward good teachers?
5. Should CMS revise the way it tests students and otherwise measures their progress? If so, how?
6. Do you believe significant changes in the CMS student assignment plan are needed? If so, what?
Please remember we are trying to reach a large number of readers in limited space, and hit only the high points in your answers. We will offer links to your web sites and to other online questionnaires and videos to readers who want more (if there are links I haven't posted on the Your Schools blog, please let me know). I or another reporter will also be in touch to discuss key issues for your campaign, even if they aren't part of this list.
Please also send this biographical information:
Date of birth
Occupation
Ties to CMS (children there, volunteer work, advisory boards, current or former employee, spouse employed, etc.)
Political experience (other elected offices held or run for, including previous runs for school board)
Education
Ways for voters to contact you (website, phone, email, etc.)
Key thing voters should know about you


So things are moving and we have the next event tomorrow night at the Alpha Kappa Alpha Political Forum 2613 Hutchison-McDonald Rd., Ivy Hall at 7PM everyone be sure to come and join us.

Larry said...

Ann to answer your question about selling the audience what they want to hear.

Absolutely.

At this point I could only vote for about one or two people on this panel and I am not too sure about me as I not sure if I heard what they said was true or not.

A lot of Conservative People are going to be upset this time around.

And I am not the one to tell them, if they are so lazy to do the research then they deserve the people they get.

Larry said...

Oh and the turn out for the event up in Cornelius was about the same as tonight's Black Political Caucus Event was say 45 or less folks.

Wiley Coyote said...

Ann...

If you watch the Swann interviews, especially Question 6, you see how some of the candidates eventually tilted their response to the position of Swann. Dashew answered the question honestly but it didn't seem to fit the position of Swann so she was pressed further and the strain showed in her response.

As I said the other day, it was if they were "Stockholm Syndromed"...

Bumgarner and Nelson were the only two that refused to back down on their position.

Scott Babbidge said...

Wiley, no one wonders why you keep hammering the topics you talk about.

The Democrats (and the Chamber, and Tim Morgan) have become enamored with Aaron Pomis and how, all by himself, he has "closed the achievement gap". Aaron is an intelligent man, and I am not trying to attack him or the work he has done in the classroom. And while I like the KIPP program and the results that they have produced all over the country I think it equally important that people know the "secret" to their success is not that KIPP has some magical way of closing the gap but that their students and the students' parents are required to live up to a certain set of criteria - and if they don't they get kicked out!! Well if you were able to kick out the distractions and malcontents and those who are not in school to learn from the public schools, the results would also skyrocket.
What that tells us is setting the bar higher and requiring kids and parents to work together with the school to make sure the child goes over the bar actually works. What a shocking concept!! Yet, the public schools are forced to take and keep every kid who shows up no matter the child, the parent(s) or the approach child and parent place on education. I asked Bob Rucho last week about a NC Constitutional Amendment making free public education a privilege instead of a right....that's a real solution....but good luck getting it on the ballot anytime soon....

Scott Babbidge said...

Larry and the other candidates, I am sorry for the formats like the one discussed here. Trying to answer an important question in what is the most important Mecklenburg County election in the last 25 years is tough. The problems CMS faces, and the solutions to those problems can't be answered in a minute, or even two. Sadly, we live in a soundbite society and folks want the slick soundbite responses, instead of well thought out complex solutions to complex problems.......

Wiley Coyote said...

Scott...not sure how to take the no one wonders statement...

Scott Babbidge said...

By the way, not that it matters, but I'd have NEVER been in support of busing. No chance, no how, no way.

We don't need to be talking about bringing back busing, we need to be talking about how we transform our public schools into places where kids learn to think divergently and critically. Whether the result is a child who wants to be a scientist, an inventor, a carpenter, or you name it....we need to transform the way we approach education in America - and it won't be easy. We've all been taught that there is only one correct answer to every question...parents, teachers, superintendents, school board members, business owners all need to become part of the solution.....playing politics with kids only perpetuates the problems....
But case in point of the mess we are in....a self proclaimed "conservative" (former school board member) told me just days ago that to be "conservative" you have to be in favor of standardized testing....I'm still shaking and scratching my head over that one....

Scott Babbidge said...

Wiley,
I meant no one wonders as a compliment.
Yet while no one wonders, I am not sure everyone actually understands your points or why you make them....or in some cases, they know you are right but it doesn't fit their overriding political philosophy to agree with you.

Wiley Coyote said...

Thought so but wasn't sure...

And yes you're right in that political philosophy sometimes overrides common sense.

What usualy gets lost in the message(s) I try to push is the fact I'm willing to spend the money to fix education, but in order to fix it, people have to acknowledge the broken parts and THE ONE broken part is who are the most vulnerable kids we need to reach. No one really knows who they are.

Until they are identified, we'll keep tossing tons of money into that big status quo pot and stirring and stirring and stirring and.....

Scott Babbidge said...

Wiley,
I totally agree. Which is why I was so vocal in my call for total fiscal transparency while I was running.
Why would we not want to identify every expenditure as exceeding, meeting or failing to meet expectations? Then, eliminate everything not working, and fully fund all the stuff exceeding.

Or how about hiring a superintendent who gets a base of $100K and gets incentives for shrinking the size of the kingdom?

Anonymous said...

Ann has asked if any of the candidates are saying different things for different audiences.

As Wiley has noted on the Swann tapes question #6 you can hear how some candidates gradually acquiesce to the interviewers' obvious pro-busing stance. Others make no bones about their desire to use assignment to create their particular vision of diversity (which I assume corresponds to Swann/Meck ACTS vision).

You can pull up Meck Ed's candidate matrix (http://www.mecked.org/WP/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/CMS-School-Board-Candidate-Matrix3.pdf) and have that in front of you while you listen to the Swann tapes. Meck Ed's questions 1 & 5 combine to cover Swann's question 6.

Note that nary a candidate mentions anything about assignment or busing when answering Meck Ed questions 1 and 5. Then listen to the same candidates on Swann.

Hans apparently is ready to clear 30% of current students out of Providence to make room for "anyone who wants to attend there"--no mention of where those displaced 30% will then be assigned. Mary makes no bones about wanting to bus. Aaron insists he will make schools diverse (and how might that be done?). Erika and Darrin also favor diversity by assignment. Lloyd is totally opposed to "segregated" schools. And Keith sticks his foot in his mouth over this one, as does Jeff Wise.

What did the candidates have to say last night, Ann, at the Black political caucus event? Did you hear anything that you don't see in their campaign literature or on Meck Ed questionnaire?

Scott Babbidge said...

I have proposed a simple, easy to understand, common sense student assignment plan that would put an end to this insanity.

Every single residential address would have a elementary, middle and high school "primary" school assignment. That would be the school closest to the address.

However, we know that there are instances in which overcrowding happens. So, every address would also have an "overcrowding" assignment and that would be the schools that address would go to in the case that the "primary" school was overcrowded.

This type of common sense mentality says kids should go to the school closest to where they live, but occasionally, due to bad government planning/forecasting, there may be times when that is not logistically possible. But rather than having kids re-assigned every year or two, we fix those assignments for long periods (10+ years).

Would some people not be happy with their assignment plan? Yes. But ultimately, moving to a well thought out, stable assignment plan is something people would get behind. And as I was out talking to people and explaining this idea, people always said to me "that makes a lot of sense". It's not always the assignment that drives people crazy, its the perception (and reality) that assignments seemingly change often and for no self-explanatory or predictable reasons that drives parents nutty.

Ann Doss Helms said...

8:34, it was hard to glean a lot out of last night's answers. The format was: One question would go to two or three candidates and they'd have one minute each to answer. Then another question would go to the next two or three. There were more than two dozen questions, many of them quite good, but we never heard everyone answer them and there wasn't much time to discuss complex issues.

There were two rounds of "everyone answer yes or no" questions. One was whether they had kids in CMS, and didn't yield much to distinguish. The other was whether they'd have voted to close the predominantly black schools that the board did last year. Tim Morgan and Larry Bumgarner said yes, Jeff Wise maybe, Elyse Dashew insisted on giving a longer and more ambiguous answer and the rest said no. That may have been a prime example of tailoring an answer to the audience, and to a question that demanded a simple answer to a complex issue.

The Swann videos are fascinating in that they do show not only extended answers from the candidates but, as many have noted, the follow-up questions from the interviewers. I'd love to see similar videos of questions being asked from a different perspective. It could be argued that seeing how candidates deal with pressure to accept a certain point of view, whatever that is, is one of the best insights voters can get.

Wiley Coyote said...

Scott...

Your proposal makes too much sense.

Please refrain from wasting good type and our time with further bursts of realism...

therestofthestory said...

Ann, the Swann videos were interesting because it showed which candidates were not "educated enough" on the issues to stand up to the badgering and threat of character assassination by Swann and MeckActs (welcomingly facilitated by the CO editorial staff).

Anonymous said...

Ann, Regarding your comment about how fascinating it was when the Swann videos showed the follow up questions from the interviewers. I think we can all agree that these questions certainly cast light on the "governing philosophy" that Swann and Meck ACTS are looking for in a candidate. Were you at all surprised by what you learned about the interviewers and their focus from those questions?

Scott Babbidge said...

I know Wiley....I forgot, we can't use common sense around here.

Interesting tidbit from the BPC forum. Elyse Dashew believes that there is a role for the school board in determining how we develop housing and who should be living where in Mecklenburg County.

WOW....and YIKES!!!!!!

Wiley Coyote said...

Scott,

I saw that on her response to Swann Question 6... She wants the city to do the social engineering so the BOE doesn't have to touch it..kinda like Bright Beginnings with the County.

Ann Doss Helms said...

1:17, being surprised that the Swann folks feel strongly about diversity would be like being shocked to hear conservative views from the John Locke Foundation. Advocacy groups advocate for their views. That's free expression.

TROTS, I have not watched all of the Swann videos, but I watched the diversity clips and did not hear threats of any kind. Are there interviewer comments I missed?

Wiley Coyote said...

Ann...

It's not Swann, it's the answers given and the way they are given that people need to see and understand.

We all know Swann has been, is and will always be the status quo pushing a warped, outdated definition of "diversity" to achieve some integration utopia that will never happen.

The new figures posted by you today show Whites are still shrinking as a percentage of the CMS student population.

If it keeps going that way, we'll still have "diversity" but with one less ethnic group.

Anonymous said...

Ann, Of course no one should be surprised about the Swann folks' focus, but two of the voices pushing the hardest on this issue were Meck ACTS founders. They have not been portraying themselves as busing proponents of late, but rather as the saviors of teachers and students from testing excess. I'm curious if you were at all surprised to hear how strongly they felt about diversity based assignment.

Wiley Coyote said...

Anon 7:16...

You are correct...

They are waving the the right hand of anti-testing frantically while keeping their left busing hand out of sight behind their backs.

Some of the candidates I support believe in things I don't but I try to weigh the importance of issues overall as to which ones will be more beneficial to kids overall.

Busing to achieve some sort of pie in the sky "diversity" garbage and all of the money and fractures it will cause in the community, is more dangerous than testing in my opinion.

So I would support a candidate against busing but for testing, because I feel testing will eventually go by the wayside if implemented. I would prefer they be against both.